9 January, 2009

The current economic strategy is right out of “Atlas Shrugged”: The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That’s the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies — while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to “calm the markets,” another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as “Atlas” grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate “windfalls.”

Israel may have reached a deterrent moment in its war in Gaza against Iranian-backed Hamas. I spoke with a senior Arab diplomat last night. He told me that the Arab street is afraid that “the Jews have gone crazy.”

I, frankly, know enough with just a CPR/First Aid certification to know it’s bogus but, to make sure Buttle’s World continues to bring you the most accurate information possible, I double-checked with an actual ER doctor.

Here’s what was drilled into my head for 3 years of Emergency Medicine training:

1. Airway
2. Breathing
3. Circulation

The first two have not, apparently, been addressed, and those “compressions” wouldn’t circulate blood in anyone bigger than a preemie.

And that’s the least concerned “doctor” I’ve ever seen. I don’t think he even looked at his patient once.

Update:

Of course the network which aired this lame joke would quickly issue a retraction and correction, red-faced that they were so easily misled. Unless, perhaps, the network is the one which lied on purpose about Saddam Hussein so they wouldn’t get kicked out if Iraq.